Press Release: Last Chance Olympic Trial Qualifier This Weekend

The final stage of U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualification is set for this weekend as the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier will be held in conjunction with the Cliff Keen/USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa, April 1-3.

Over 175 wrestlers will compete between all three international styles for one final spot at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials to be held on April 9-10 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. Only the champion in each weight class will qualify to compete in Iowa City.

Greco-Roman will compete on Friday, men’s freestyle will take the mat on Saturday and women’s freestyle will round out the competition on Sunday. This is the last of the #Road2IowaCity U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifying tournaments.

Several top national and local names are registered to compete at the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier this weekend.

In Greco-Roman, 2006 World champion and former Bellator Bantamweight and Featherweight champion Joe Warren will take his shot at the 59 kg field. Two-time NCAA Div. II champions for Nebraska-Kearney, Daniel Deshazer and and Romero Cotton, will try their hands at Greco-Roman in Cedar Falls. Past Junior Nationals champions Taylor LaMont and Hayden Tuma are among the younger entrants in the Greco-Roman field.

The men’s freestyle field is littered with talent led by past U.S. World Team member Obe Blanc, Junior World bronze medalist Stevan Micic and past NCAA champions Robert Hamlin and David Zabriskie. NCAA runners-up currently included in the field are Andrew Hochstrasser, Montell Marion, Joshua Kindig, Chase Pami and Bo Nickal.

Zabriskie was a NCAA champion for Iowa State in 2010 and Marion finished as NCAA runner-up for Iowa in 2012. Additional local stars that will be wrestling in the men’s freestyle competition include two-time NCAA All-American for Iowa State Earl Hall, Cyclone WC athlete Deron Winn, past NCAA qualifier for Iowa State and current Panther WC athlete Andrew Sorensen and Northern Iowa standouts Max Thompsen and Blaize Cabell.

Veteran Trinity Griffin headlines the women’s freestyle competition that will feature many young stars on the women’s scene.

The Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier field is expected to grow deeper with additional athletes able to register on site.

The Cliff Keen/ USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals will wrestle side-by-side with the U.S. Olympic Team Trials hopefuls with Bantam, Intermediate, Novice, Schoolboy, Cadet, Junior and Veterans divisions being contested over three days.

Over 1,500 wrestlers from across the U.S. are registered for Folkstyle Nationals.

Fans can watch both the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier and Cliff Keen/USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals live, in its entirety, on Flowrestling.com.